Methods and systems for touch-free call origination

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems to enable touch-free call origination using a communication device equipped with a microphone. The method comprises processing a first microphone signal at the device in an attempt to detect a spoken activation command potentially contained therein. Responsive to detection of a spoken activation command in the first microphone signal, the method continues by establishing a communication path between the device and a network entity to convey to the network entity a second microphone signal. Finally, the method comprises processing the second microphone signal at the network entity in an attempt to detect a call origination command potentially contained therein; and, responsive to detection of a call origination command in the second microphone signal, attempting establishment of a call in accordance with the detected call origination command. Thus, a call can be established without tactile interaction with the device and, moreover, with minimal computational load on the device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a CONTINUATION of PCT International PatentApplication Serial No. PCT/CA2005/001456, filed on Sep. 23, 2005,designating the United States of America, and hereby incorporated byreference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to telephone communication and,more specifically, to methods and systems for enabling a user of acommunication device to originate a call without touching thecommunication device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As users of telephony services become increasingly mobile, certainelements of their environment have unfortunately not adapted to thespecific needs brought on by this increased mobility. For example,mobile users are still constrained to touch or otherwise physicallyhandle a telephone when originating a call. Although in some instancesvoice recognition can be used to recognize dialing commands, it remainsthe case that an initial tactile interaction (usually pressing a button)is required to activate the phone and place it into a mode in whichdialing commands can subsequently be detected and responded to.

For users who wear wireless headsets, this limitation poses aninconvenience, as the very purpose of wearing a headset is to keep one'shands free, which is not possible when the headset or phone base must bephysically manipulated in order to originate a call. Similarly, driverswishing to originate a call must liberate at least one hand from thesteering wheel or stick shift while activating their phones, even ifvoice recognition is used to recognize a subsequent dialing command.This brief moment of distraction poses a safety hazard.

Thus, an improvement is needed which would enable a user of acommunication device who wishes to originate a call to do so withouttouching the communication device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a methodto enable touch-free call origination using a communication deviceequipped with a microphone. The method comprises processing a firstmicrophone signal at the communication device in an attempt to detect aspoken activation command potentially contained therein. Responsive todetection of a spoken activation command in the first microphone signal,the method continues by establishing a communication path between thecommunication device and a network entity to convey to the networkentity a second microphone signal. Finally, the method comprisesprocessing the second microphone signal at the network entity in anattempt to detect a call origination command potentially containedtherein; and, responsive to detection of a call origination command inthe second microphone signal, attempting establishment of a call inaccordance with the detected call origination command.

A second broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a callorigination unit for enabling touch-free call origination from acommunication device. The call origination unit comprises acommunication module adapted to support a communication path conveyingan origination signal produced by a microphone associated with thecommunication device, the communication path being established inresponse to detection by the communication device of a spoken activationcommand in an activation signal produced by the microphone. The callorigination unit also comprises a speech recognition module adapted toprocess the origination signal conveyed over the communication path inan attempt to detect a call origination command potentially containedtherein. Finally, the call origination unit comprises a control moduleresponsive to detection of a call origination command by the speechrecognition module to attempt establishment of a call in accordance withthe detected call origination command.

A third broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a callorigination unit for a computer readable storage medium containing aprogram element for execution by a call origination unit to enabletouch-free call origination from a communication device. The programelement includes program code means for supporting a communication pathconveying an origination signal produced by a microphone associated withthe communication device, the communication path being established inresponse to detection of a spoken activation command in an activationsignal produced by the microphone. The program element also includesprogram code means for processing the origination signal in an attemptto detect a call origination command potentially contained therein.Finally, the program element includes program code means for, inresponse to detection of a call origination command, attemptingestablishment of a call in accordance with the detected call originationcommand.

A fourth broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide acommunication device for enabling touch-free call origination. Thecommunication device comprises a microphone adapted to producemicrophone signals indicative of sound sensed by the microphone. Thecommunication device also comprises a speech recognition module adaptedto process a first microphone signal in an attempt to detect a spokenactivation command potentially contained therein. Finally, thecommunication device comprises a communication module adapted toestablish over a portion of a communication network a communication pathwith a call origination unit in response to detection of a spokenactivation command by the speech recognition module, the communicationpath conveying a second microphone signal. It is noted that when thesecond microphone signal conveys a call origination command detectableby a second speech recognition module in the call origination unit, thecall origination unit is caused to attempt establishment of a call inaccordance with the call origination command.

A fifth broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a systemfor touch-free call origination. The system comprises a communicationdevice and a call origination unit reachable by the communication devicevia a portion of a communication network. The communication devicecomprises a microphone adapted to produce microphone signals indicativeof sound sensed by the microphone, as well as a first speech recognitionmodule adapted to process a first microphone signal in an attempt todetect a spoken activation command potentially contained therein. Thecommunication device also comprises a communication module adapted toconvey a second microphone signal over a communication path establishedwith the call origination unit in response to detection of a spokenactivation command by the first speech recognition module. For its part,the call origination unit comprises a second speech recognition moduleadapted to process the second microphone signal in an attempt to detecta call origination command potentially contained therein. Finally, thecall origination unit comprises a control module responsive to detectionof a call origination command by the second speech recognition module toattempt establishment of a call in accordance with the detected callorigination command.

These and other aspects and features of the present invention will nowbecome apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of thefollowing description of specific embodiments of the invention inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 shows, in schematic form, a communication device, a controller, adatabase and other components of a system for enabling a user of thecommunication device to originate a call without touching thecommunication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are signal flow diagrams showing interaction of variouscomponents in the system of FIG. 1 during a touch-free call originationprocess;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts showing steps in the operation of thecommunication device in the context of the signal flow diagrams of FIGS.2A and 2B, respectively;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are variants of FIGS. 3A and 3B, respectively;

FIGS. 5A conceptually illustrates potential contents of the database inFIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5B is a variant of FIG. 5A.

It is to be expressly understood that the description and drawings areonly for the purpose of illustration of certain embodiments of theinvention and are an aid for understanding. They are not intended to bea definition of the limits of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference is made to FIG. 1, which depicts a communication device 12that may be employed by a user 14 to effect various call origination andcall answering activities, including but not limited to placing atelephone call to a called party device, dialing-in to a server to checkthe user's voice mail messages and answering an incoming call. By way ofseveral non-limiting examples, the communication device 12 may be awired POTS phone (including a cordless phone), a wireless phone (e.g., acellular or other mobile device including a telephony-enabled personaldigital assistant), a VoIP phone, or a soft phone (i.e., a computerequipped with a software application for telephony).

In accordance with a specific non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention, the communication device 12 comprises a microphone 40, aloudspeaker or earphone 42, ringing circuitry 44, a network interface 46and a set of functional modules including a speech recognition module 48and a communication module 50. Standard dialing circuitry (not shown)may also be provided to handle circumstances where the user 14 desiresto effect a call origination activity without using the touch-freeapproach described herein.

The microphone 40, the loudspeaker or earphone 42, the ringing circuitry44 and the network interface 46 are conventionally available componentsand, as such, need not be described any further. For their part, thespeech recognition module 48 and the communication module 50 can beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, control logic or acombination thereof The functionality of the speech recognition module48 and the communication module 50 will be described in further detaillater on.

Continuing with the description of FIG. 1, the communication device 12is connected to a switching/routing entity 20 via an access link 18. Theaccess link 18 may include a collection of physical connections runningthrough a portion of a communication network. The nature of the accesslink 18 and the switching/routing entity 20 will depend on the nature ofthe communication device 12, as now described.

For example, where the communication device 12 is a wired POTS phone,the access link 18 may be a twisted pair and the switching/routingentity 20 may be a central office switch. Where the communication device12 is a wireless phone, the access link 18 may comprise a wireless linkin combination with a base station and a network-side wireline link, andthe switching/routing entity 20 may be embodied as a mobile switchingcenter. Where the communication device 12 is a VoIP phone (or a POTSphone equipped with an analog terminal adapter—ATA), the access link 18may be a digital communications link such as Ethernet and theswitching/routing entity 20 may be an edge router. Alternatively, wherethe communication device 12 is a soft phone, the access link 18 may be adigital communications link such as a DSL link, coaxial cable, etc., andthe switching/routing entity 20 may be a server equipped with a modem.Still other configurations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The switching/routing entity 20 is connected to a controller 22 and to anetwork architecture 24, which allows the communication device 12 toreach a called party subsystem 28. In one non-limiting example scenario,the called party subsystem 28 may be a telephone (wired POTS, wireless,VoIP or otherwise). In another non-limiting example scenario, the calledparty subsystem 28 may be a voice mail system. In yet anothernon-limiting example scenario, the called party subsystem 28 mayactually be the controller 22 (e.g., when the user 14 wishes to performadministration of his/her account). Thus, the network architecture 24encompasses a broad range of possibilities, including a collection ofzero, one, two or more networks needed to be traversed from theswitching/routing entity 20 to the called party subsystem 28.

The switching/routing unit 20 is capable of effecting switchingoperations to help route an outbound call from the communication device12 towards the called party subsystem 28 via the network architecture24. In addition, the switching/routing unit 20 is capable of effectingswitching operations to complete an inbound call arriving from thenetwork architecture 24 that is destined for the communication device12. Furthermore, the switching/routing unit 20 is capable of effectingswitching operations to provide a communication path between thecontroller 22 and the communication device 12 during call origination orwhile a call is in progress.

In one specific non-limiting embodiment, the controller 22 may belocated in a network entity that also houses the switching/routingentity 20, whereas in another specific non-limiting embodiment, thecontroller 22 may be located in a network entity that is different fromthat which houses the switching/routing entity 20. The controller 22 isconnected to a database 26, which is now described in further detailwith reference to FIG. 5A.

Specifically, the database 26 stores information on various users (suchas the user 14) as well as the communication services to which theseusers may be subscribed. Examples of conventionally availablecommunication services for outbound calls include long distance callblocking, calling line identification (CLID) blocking and so on. Forinbound calls, examples of conventionally available services includecall forwarding, calling line identification (CLID), and so on. Inaddition, and in accordance with a non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention, the database 26 stores information on whether aparticular user is subscribed to a “voice-activated call origination”service.

By way of non-limiting example, the database 26 maintains a set ofrecords 502, 504, 506 associated with respective users USER_1, USER_2,USER_3, as well as a plurality of other similar records 508 associatedwith other respective users. Each record may optionally also includeinformation regarding a telephone number, IP address or electronicserial number (ESN) associated with the respective user. For example,record 502 contains information regarding a telephone number from whichthe associated user, USER_1, is expected to dial using a wired POTSphone. Record 504 contains information regarding an IP address fromwhich the associated user, USER_2, is expected to dial using a VoIPphone. Record 506 contains information regarding an electronic serialnumber (ESN) from which the associated user, USER_3, is expected toplace calls.

In addition, each of the records 502, 504, 506, 508 includes a list ofcommunication services to which the respective user is subscribed. Inthis specific non-limiting example, the user identified in record 502,namely USER_1, subscribes to “Service 1”, “Service 2” and thevoice-activated call origination (V.A.C.O.) service contemplated by thepresent invention. Also in this specific non-limiting example, the useridentified in record 504, namely USER_2, subscribes to “Service 1”,“Service 3” and the V.A.C.O. service contemplated herein. However, theuser identified in record 506, namely USER_3, subscribes only to“Service 2” and “Service 4”, and does not subscribe to the V.A.C.O.service contemplated herein.

Returning now to FIG. 1, the controller 22 comprises a set of functionalunits for managing the aforementioned services and potentially otherservices relating to the communication device 12 and to othercommunication devices. Functional units associated with conventionallyavailable services 1 through N are denoted by the numeral 30. Inaddition, there is provided a functional unit 32 associated with thevoice-activated call origination service mentioned above. For ease ofreference, the functional unit 32 will hereinafter be referred to as a“call origination unit” 32.

In accordance with a specific non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention, the call origination unit 32 comprises a set of functionalmodules, including a communication module 34, a speech recognitionmodule 36 and a control module 38. The communication module 34, thespeech recognition module 36 and the control module 38 can beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, control logic or acombination thereof The functionality of the communication module 34,the speech recognition module 36 and the control module 38 will bedescribed in further detail below.

Specifically, operation of, and interaction among, the speechrecognition module 48, the communication module 50, the communicationmodule 34, the speech recognition module 36 and the control module 38are now described in the context of an example illustrating howtouch-free call origination activities can be effected using thecommunication device 12. Accordingly, reference is made to FIGS. 2A, 2B,3A and 3B.

Step 302

The microphone 40 in the communication device 12 continually produces asignal 202 indicative of sound sensed in the vicinity of thecommunication device 12. The signal 202 is fed to the speech recognitionmodule 48. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, inorder for touch-free call origination to be effected, the user 14 isrequired to utter a “detectable” activation command in order to “wakeup” the communication device 12. By “detectable” is meant an activationcommand that can be detected by the speech recognition module 48, whichmay or may not involve having previously undergone a speech recognitiontraining session with the user 14.

An example of a detectable activation command may be the spokenutterance “phone on” or some other utterance that is not expected to beused regularly during ordinary conversation in the vicinity of thecommunication device 12.

Step 304

The speech recognition module 48 monitors the signal 202 from themicrophone 40 and processes it in an attempt to detect therein one ofthe detectable activation commands.

Step 306

In the absence of detection of a detectable activation command, i.e.,the “NO” branch of step 306, the speech recognition module 48 returns tostep 304 and continues its monitoring process. However, assuming thatthe user 14 does indeed utter (with sufficient volume) a specificactivation command that is in fact a detectable activation command, thisspecific activation command will be contained in the signal 202 that wasproduced by the microphone 40 and hence will be detected by the speechrecognition module 48. As a result, the “YES” branch of step 306 istaken and the communication module 50 proceeds to execute step 308.

Step 308

The speech recognition module 48 provides a signal 204 indicative of thespecific activation command is provided to the call origination unit 32in the controller 22, specifically to the communication module 34 in thecall origination unit 32, using a protocol such as SS7 (Signaling System7), SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), etc., depending on the nature ofthe communication device 12 and the access link 18.

Step 310

The signal 204 is received at the communication module 34 but the user'seligibility to effect a touch-less call origination activity is stillunknown.

Step 312

The communication module 34 consults the database 26 to determinewhether the user 14 subscribes to the voice-activated call originationservice. The identity of the user 14 can be learned in various ways,e.g., by mapping to the user 14 either the telephone number of theresidence at which the communication device 12 is located (for a wiredPOTS phone), or an IP address of the communication device 12 (for a VoIPphone), or an ESN of the communication device 12 (for a wireless phone),etc.

If it is determined that the user 14 does not subscribe to thevoice-activated call origination service, no further action is taken. Onthe other hand, it is determined that the user 14 does subscribe to thevoice-activated call origination service (i.e., the user 14 is aneligible user of the V.A.C.O. service), then the communication module 34in the call origination unit 32 proceeds to step 314.

Step 314

The communication module 34 in the call origination unit 32 and thecommunication module 50 in the communication device 12 establish acommunication path 208 between themselves. Establishment of thecommunication path 208 can be done using a protocol such as SS7, SIP,etc., depending on the nature of the communication device 12 and theaccess link 18.

At this point, the communication module 34 knows that an eligible user(in this case the user 14) is accessing the voice-activated callorigination service and therefore likely desires to effect a callorigination activity. In some embodiments, the specific activationcommand uttered by the user 14 may already contain an indication of thenature of the call origination activity (such as placing a call,accessing a voice mail server), while in other cases it may only serveto activate the communication device 12.

In some cases, it may be advantageous to positively confirm the user'sdesire to effect a call origination activity. Thus, optionally, thecommunication module 34 may send a confirmation signal 210 to thecommunication module 50 over the communication path 208. Theconfirmation signal 210 may contain either a confirmation requestmessage or a command to emit a confirmation request message storedlocally by the communication device 12.

Upon receipt of the confirmation signal 210 at the communication module50, the loudspeaker 42 is caused to emit the confirmation requestmessage.

If the user 14 is not satisfied with having triggered thevoice-activated call origination service, the user 14 can hang up or canissue a negative confirmation response utterance. The end result may bedisablement of the communication path 208. The details of how toimplement a suitable tear-down procedure will be understood by a personskilled in the art and therefore a more comprehensive explanation is notrequired.

Assuming, however, that the communication module 34 in the callorigination unit 32 has reason to believe that the user 14 wishes tocontinue with the voice-activated call origination service (e.g., by theuser 14 having responded positively to the confirmation request message,or by not having responded to the confirmation request message, or inthe absence of a confirmation request message altogether), thecommunication path 208 is kept alive and will convey the signal that iscurrently being produced by the microphone 40. However, to avoidconfusion with the previous signal 202 that contained the specificactivation command, the signal that is currently being produced by themicrophone 40 is denoted by the reference numeral 212.

Step 316

The speech recognition module 36 monitors the signal 212 from themicrophone 40 in an attempt to detect therein a call originationcommand.

One example of a call origination command capable of being detected bythe speech recognition module 36 is call destination information (e.g.,a telephone number) uttered by the user 14. The call destinationinformation may be detected using speaker-dependent orspeaker-independent software in the speech recognition module 36. In oneembodiment, the software compares each segment of speech to a plurality(in this case a total of M) of recognizable speech segments such asvarious enunciations of the digits “zero”, “one”, “two”, etc.

Another example of a call origination command capable of being detectedby the speech recognition module 36 is a recipient identifier (e.g.,“John Smith”, “voice mail”) uttered by the user 14. The recipientidentifier is detected using software in the speech recognition module36. In a first variant, the speech recognition module 36 may haveundergone a prior training session with the user 14. Accordingly, asshown in FIG. 5A, the database 26 may store respective sets of recipientidentifier speech segments 512, 514 for each record 502, 504. (It isrecalled that in the current example, USER_3 does not subscribe to thevoice-activated call origination service contemplated herein andtherefore is not associated with any speech segments.) In a secondvariant, the speech recognition module 36 will not have undergone aprior training session with the user 14. Accordingly, the database 26does not store any recipient identifier speech segments but instead thespeech recognition module 36 converts the recipient identifier into atext string that is compared against a database of potential calledparties (not shown).

The recipient identifier speech segments 512, 514 are each associatedwith respective call destination information (e.g., a telephone number)that allows proper routing of the call towards its destination, as ifthe user 14 had himself or herself submitted the call destinationinformation.

Step 318

In the absence of detection of a call origination command, i.e., the“NO” branch of step 318, the speech recognition module returns to step316 and continues its monitoring process (until a time out, not shown).Assuming, however, that the user 14 does indeed utter (with sufficientvolume) a specific call origination command capable of being detected bythe speech recognition module 36, this specific call origination commandwill be contained in the signal 212 that is produced by the microphone40 and hence will be detected by the speech recognition module 36, i.e.,the “YES” branch of step 318 is taken towards step 320.

Step 320

The speech recognition module 36 consults the database 26 to extract thecall destination information corresponding to the specific callorigination command. It is recalled that the call destinationinformation can be obtained (1) directly from the user's utterance; (2)indirectly by consulting the database 26 based on a recipient identifierextracted from the user's utterance; or (3) indirectly by consulting thedatabase of potential called parties (not shown) after converting arecipient identifier extracted from the user's utterance into a textstring.

Optionally, it may be advantageous to positively confirm with the user14 the correctness of the call destination information and/or therecipient identifier. Thus, the communication module 34 may send aconfirmation signal (not shown) to the communication module 50 over thecommunication path 208. The confirmation signal may contain aconfirmation request message containing the call destination informationand/or the recipient identifier. Upon receipt of the confirmation signalat the communication module 50, the loudspeaker 42 is caused to emit theconfirmation request message. In a non-limiting example where the calldestination information is <555-555-5555>, the confirmation requestmessage may resemble “You have chosen to dial <555-555-5555>; pleaseconfirm your intent to proceed.”, or any conceivable variant thereof.

If the user 14 is satisfied with the confirmation request message, theuser 14 can utter a positive confirmation response, which allows thecall origination process continues with step 322. However, if the user14 is not satisfied with the confirmation request message, the user 14can utter a negative confirmation response, in response to which thecommunication module 34 may solicit the user 14 to provide an alternatecall origination command, in which case the call origination processreturns to step 316 above. In an alternative embodiment, or after atime-out period with no confirmation response, the communication module34 can cause the communication path 208 to be disabled. The details ofhow to implement a suitable tear-down procedure will be understood by aperson skilled in the art and therefore a more comprehensive explanationis not required.

Step 322

The control module 38 initiates signaling activities to set up the callbased on the call destination information. For example, responsive toreceipt of a telephone number of the called party subsystem 28, thecontrol module 38 exerts control over the switching/routing unit 20 andinitiates signaling activities with the network architecture 24 in orderto set up the call as if the telephone number corresponding to thecalled party subsystem 28 had been dialed by the user 14. Of course, thecall may succeed or fail depending on various factors such as congestionin the network architecture 24, availability of the called partysubsystem 28, etc.

Alternatively, when the called party subsystem 28 is the controller 22,then there is no telephone number in question and the call is set updirectly with the communication module 34. This latter example may beuseful to permit the user 14 to change settings relating to the V.A.C.O.service.

From the above, it can be seen how the various modules in thecommunication device 12 and the call origination unit 32 cooperate toenable entirely touch-free call origination. Advantageously, the user 14can originate a call without the need to press any buttons, or make anykeystrokes, penstrokes, mouse clicks or contact with a touch screen.

The reader may also recognize that it may become advantageous to exploitthe fact that the user 14 does not physically interact with thecommunication device 12, for the purposes of enhancing security.

Accordingly, in a first enhanced security variant of the above-describedembodiments, it is assumed that the user's eligibility to access thevoice-activated call origination service is established solely on thebasis of the user's identity, regardless of the telephone number, IPaddress or ESN associated with the communication device 12.

In such a scenario, former step 308 in FIG. 3A (in which the signal 204indicative of a specific activation command was provided to thecommunication module 34 in the call origination unit 32) is replaced bystep 408 in FIG. 4A, in which both the signal 202 that contains thespecific activation command and the signal 204 indicative of thespecific activation command are forwarded to the communication module 34in the call origination unit 32.

Also, former step 312 in FIG. 3B (in which the communication module 34consults the database 26 to determine whether the user 14 subscribes tothe voice-activated call origination service) is replaced by step 412 inFIG. 4B, in which the speech recognition module 36 effects a biometricsignal processing operation to verify whether the user's voice ascontained in the signal 202 (received at new step 410) presentscharacteristics of one of the users that subscribes to thevoice-activated call origination service. Thus, it can be said that thespeech recognition module 36 performs biometric signal processing toauthenticate the user 14.

To this end, as part of step 412 and with additional reference to FIG.5B, the speech recognition module 36 may consult a new database 526,which stores biometric indicia (referred to as voice prints) for each ofthe users who subscribes to the voice-activated call originationservice. To facilitate searching through the new database 526, there maybe provided an additional area 560 in the new database 526 that storesvoice prints for all users who subscribe to the voice-activated callorigination service. In one non-limiting example embodiment, the area560 in the new database 526 may comprise an additional field 562, 564,566 of each of the records 502, 504, 506, which is searched during step412. In the present non-limiting example, the additional fields 562, 564associated with records 502, 504 contain voice prints for USER_1 andUSER_2, respectively, whereas the additional field 566 associated withrecord 506 is empty because USER_3 does not subscribe to thevoice-activated call origination service.

In a variant, there may be more than one detectable activation command,and some activation commands may be joint activation and originationcommands. In this case, the signal 202 that contains the activationcommand is the same as the signal 212 that contains the call originationcommand. In addition, the joint activation and origination command mayfurther comprise a recipient identifier from which call destinationinformation can be derived.

For example, one possible joint activation and origination command,which includes a recipient identifier, may contain an utterance such as“phone on voice mail”. Here, the call destination information is thetelephone number of the voice mail system. In another example of apossible joint activation and origination command including a recipientidentifier, there may be provided an utterance such as “phone onadministration”. Here, the call destination information is the identityof the controller 22, which allows the user 14 to change settings.Another example is “emergency emergency”, which is unlikely to occur inordinary parlance. Here, the call destination information includes thedigits “0”, “911” or whatever happens to be the appropriate emergencytelephone number. Of course, a wide variety of other conceivablevariants are within the scope of the present invention.

In another enhanced security variant of the above-described embodiments,it is within the scope of the present invention to reduce searching timeeven further by limiting the search for a matching voice print amongonly those users that are known, a priori, to potentially be associatedwith the communication device 12 (e.g., by sharing a common residence orby registering with the controller 22, etc.). This feature may of coursebe bypassed under certain circumstances, e.g., during after-hours toallow cleaning staff to call for help, and so on.

The various approaches to enhancing security as described above may beparticularly useful to protect mobile users from abuse of theirsubscription to the voice-activated call origination service, especiallyin cases where users tend to migrate from one communication device toanother or leave their devices unattended.

Thus, methods and systems for touch-free call origination have beendescribed and illustrated. A call can be established without tactileinteraction with the communication device 12. Moreover, thecomputational load on the communication device 12 is minimized, since itonly needs to detect a small set of activation commands (with the largerset of call origination commands being detected in the controller 22).This may be advantageous in a wired or wireless device, as theinfrequent occurrences of a detectable activation command in normalparlance will cause correspondingly infrequent accesses to thecontroller 22, with correspondingly infrequent depletion of resourcesalong the access link 10. In wireless devices, the low computationalcomplexity that is needed to search for this small set of activationcommands has the added advantage of reducing the power consumption ofthe communication device 12.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments, thefunctionality of one or more of the various aforementioned modules(e.g., the speech recognition module 48, the communication module 50,the communication module 34, the speech recognition module 36 and thecontrol module 38) may be implemented as pre-programmed hardware orfirmware elements (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories(EEPROMs), etc.), or other related components. In other embodiments, oneor more of the various aforementioned modules may be implemented as anarithmetic and logic unit (ALU) having access to a code memory (notshown) which stores program instructions for the operation of the ALU.The program instructions could be stored on a medium which is fixed,tangible and readable directly by the various aforementioned modules,(e.g., removable diskette, CD-ROM, ROM, USB drive or fixed disk), or theprogram instructions could be stored remotely but transmittable to thevarious aforementioned modules via a modem or other interface device(e.g., a communications adapter) connected to a network over atransmission medium. The transmission medium may be either a tangiblemedium (e.g., optical or analog communications lines) or a mediumimplemented using wireless techniques (e.g., microwave, infrared orother transmission schemes).

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been describedand illustrated, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatnumerous modifications and variations can be made without departing fromthe scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1. A method to enable touch-free call origination using a communicationdevice equipped with a microphone, comprising: processing a firstmicrophone signal at the communication device in an attempt to detect aspoken activation command potentially contained therein; responsive todetection of a spoken activation command in the first microphone signal,establishing a communication path between the communication device and anetwork entity to convey to the network entity a second microphonesignal; processing the second microphone signal at the network entity inan attempt to detect a call origination command potentially containedtherein; responsive to detection of a call origination command in thesecond microphone signal, attempting establishment of a call inaccordance with the detected call origination command.
 2. The methoddefined in claim 1, further comprising: responsive to detection of aspoken activation command in the first microphone signal, sending aconfirmation signal to the communication device over the communicationpath, the confirmation signal causing issuance of a confirmation requestmessage by the communication device.
 3. The method defined in claim 2,further comprising: processing a third microphone signal at the networkentity in an attempt to detect a confirmation response potentiallycontained therein; responsive to detection of a negative confirmationresponse in the third microphone signal, disabling the communicationpath.
 4. The method defined in claim 3, wherein said processing thethird microphone signal occurs between said processing the firstmicrophone signal and said processing the second microphone signal. 5.The method defined in claim 1, further comprising identifying at thenetwork entity a user associated with the spoken activation command andperforming at the network entity a determination of eligibility of theuser to originate calls in a touch-free manner, wherein saidestablishing a communication path is performed only if saiddetermination of eligibility is positive.
 6. The method defined in claim5, wherein said performing at the network entity a determination ofeligibility of the user to originate calls in a touch-free mannercomprises determining whether the user is subscribed to avoice-activated call origination service.
 7. The method defined in claim1, wherein the call origination command is spoken by a speaker, themethod further comprising performing biometric signal processing on thesecond microphone signal to authenticate the speaker of the callorigination command.
 8. The method defined in claim 7, wherein saidperforming biometric signal processing comprises identifying voicecharacteristics of the second microphone signal and attempting toidentify whether the identified voice characteristics match voicecharacteristics associated with at least one subscribed user in adatabase of subscribed users.
 9. The method defined in claim 1, furthercomprising conveying a third microphone signal over the communicationpath.
 10. The method defined in claim 9, further comprising performingbiometric signal processing on the third microphone signal toauthenticate the speaker of the spoken activation command.
 11. Themethod defined in claim 10, wherein said performing biometric signalprocessing comprises identifying voice characteristics of the thirdmicrophone signal and attempting to identify whether the identifiedvoice characteristics match voice characteristics associated with atleast one subscribed user in a database of subscribed users.
 12. Themethod defined in claim 11, the third microphone signal having beenproduced no earlier than the first microphone signal.
 13. The methoddefined in claim 11, wherein said performing biometric signal processingon the third microphone signal occurs between said processing the firstmicrophone signal and said processing the second microphone signal. 14.The method defined in claim 11, wherein the third microphone signalcomprises at least a portion of the first microphone signal.
 15. Themethod defined in claim 14, wherein said processing the secondmicrophone signal at the network entity is performed only if theidentified voice characteristics match voice characteristics associatedwith at least one subscribed user in the database of subscribed users.16. A call origination unit for enabling touch-free call originationfrom a communication device, comprising: a communication module adaptedto support a communication path conveying an origination signal producedby a microphone associated with the communication device, thecommunication path being established in response to detection by thecommunication device of a spoken activation command in an activationsignal produced by the microphone; a speech recognition module adaptedto process the origination signal conveyed over the communication pathin an attempt to detect a call origination command potentially containedtherein; a control module responsive to detection of a call originationcommand by the speech recognition module to attempt establishment of acall in accordance with the detected call origination command.
 17. Thecall origination unit defined in claim 16, wherein the activation signalis produced prior to the origination signal.
 18. The call originationunit defined in claim 17, wherein the call origination command conveyscall destination information.
 19. The call origination unit defined inclaim 18, wherein the call destination information is a telephonenumber.
 20. The call origination unit defined in claim 17, wherein thecall origination command conveys a recipient identifier.
 21. The callorigination unit defined in claim 20, wherein the control module isfurther adapted to consult a database in order to determine calldestination information corresponding to the recipient identifier. 22.The call origination unit defined in claim 16, wherein the speechrecognition module is further adapted to compare the origination signalto a plurality of recognizable speech segments corresponding todifferent call destination information.
 23. The call origination unitdefined in claim 22, wherein the speech recognition module is furtheradapted to consult a database in order to access the plurality ofrecognizable speech segments corresponding to different call destinationinformation.
 24. The call origination unit defined in claim 16, thecontrol module being adapted to (1) identify a user associated with thespoken activation command; (2) perform a determination of eligibility ofthe user to originate calls in a touch-free manner; and (3) establishthe communication path in response to said determination of eligibilitybeing positive.
 25. The call origination unit defined in claim 24,wherein the control module being adapted to perform a determination ofeligibility of the user to originate calls in a touch-free mannercomprises the control module being adapted to determine whether the useris subscribed to a voice-activated call origination service.
 26. Thecall origination unit defined in claim 25, wherein the call originationunit is reachable from the communication device via a communicationnetwork and wherein the communication path is established over a portionof the communication network.
 27. The call origination unit defined inclaim 26, wherein the communication device is connected to a telephoneline, and wherein the control module being adapted to identify a userassociated with the spoken activation command comprises the controlmodule mapping an identity of the telephone line to the user.
 28. Thecall origination unit defined in claim 26, wherein the communicationdevice has an IP address, and wherein the control module being adaptedto identify a user associated with the spoken activation commandcomprises the control module mapping the IP address to the user.
 29. Thecall origination unit defined in claim 26, wherein the communicationdevice has an electronic serial number, and wherein the control modulebeing adapted to identify a user associated with the spoken activationcommand comprises the control module mapping the electronic serialnumber to the user.
 30. The call origination unit defined in claim 16,wherein the communication module is further adapted to convey at least aportion of the activation signal over the communication path.
 31. Thecall origination unit defined in claim 30, wherein the speechrecognition module is further adapted to perform biometric signalprocessing on the at least a portion of the activation signal toauthenticate the speaker of the spoken activation command.
 32. The callorigination unit defined in claim 31, wherein said speech recognitionmodule being further adapted to perform biometric signal processingcomprises said speech recognition module being further adapted toidentify voice characteristics of the activation signal and to attemptto identify whether the identified voice characteristics match voicecharacteristics associated with at least one subscribed user in adatabase of subscribed users.
 33. The call origination unit defined inclaim 16, wherein the activation signal is comprised in the originationsignal.
 34. The call origination unit defined in claim 16, wherein thespoken activation command and the call origination command form a jointactivation and origination command.
 35. The call origination unitdefined in claim 16, wherein the communication module is further adaptedto send a confirmation signal over the communication path, theconfirmation signal causing issuance of a confirmation request messageby the communication device.
 36. The call origination unit defined inclaim 35, wherein the speech recognition module is further adapted toprocess a third signal produced by the microphone, in an attempt todetect presence of a confirmation response potentially containedtherein.
 37. The call origination unit defined in claim 36, wherein thethird signal is conveyed over the communication path.
 38. The callorigination unit defined in claim 37, wherein the control module beingadapted to attempt establishment of the call is conditional upon thespeech recognition module not detecting presence of a confirmationresponse in the third signal.
 39. The call origination unit defined inclaim 38, wherein the third signal is produced between the activationsignal and the origination signal.
 40. The call origination unit definedin claim 38, wherein the third signal is produced subsequent to theorigination signal.
 41. The call origination unit defined in claim 37,wherein the control module being adapted to attempt establishment of thecall is conditional upon the speech recognition module detectingpresence of a positive confirmation response in the third signal. 42.The call origination unit defined in claim 41, wherein the third signalis produced between the activation signal and the origination signal.43. The call origination unit defined in claim 41, wherein the thirdsignal is produced subsequent to the origination signal.
 44. The callorigination unit defined in claim 37, wherein responsive to the speechrecognition module detecting presence of a negative confirmationresponse in the third signal, the communication module is adapted tosend a fourth signal soliciting a new call origination command from auser of the communication device.
 45. The call origination unit definedin claim 44, wherein the third signal is produced subsequent to theorigination signal.
 46. A computer readable storage medium containing aprogram element for execution by a call origination unit to enabletouch-free call origination from a communication device, the programelement including: program code means for supporting a communicationpath conveying an origination signal produced by a microphone associatedwith the communication device, the communication path being establishedin response to detection of a spoken activation command in an activationsignal produced by the microphone; program code means for processing theorigination signal in an attempt to detect a call origination commandpotentially contained therein; program code means for, in response todetection of a call origination command, attempting establishment of acall in accordance with the detected call origination command.
 47. Acommunication device for enabling touch-free call origination,comprising: a microphone adapted to produce microphone signalsindicative of sound sensed by the microphone; a speech recognitionmodule adapted to process a first microphone signal in an attempt todetect a spoken activation command potentially contained therein; acommunication module adapted to establish over a portion of acommunication network a communication path with a call origination unitin response to detection of a spoken activation command by the speechrecognition module, the communication path conveying a second microphonesignal; wherein when the second microphone signal conveys a callorigination command detectable by a second speech recognition module inthe call origination unit, the call origination unit is caused toattempt establishment of a call in accordance with the call originationcommand.
 48. The communication device defined in claim 47, being a wiredPOTS phone.
 49. The communication device defined in claim 47, being aVoIP phone.
 50. The communication device defined in claim 47, being asoft phone.
 51. The communication device defined in claim 47, being awireless phone.
 52. A system for touch-free call origination,comprising: a communication device; a call origination unit reachable bythe communication device via a portion of a communication network; thecommunication device comprising: a microphone adapted to producemicrophone signals indicative of sound sensed by the microphone; a firstspeech recognition module adapted to process a first microphone signalin an attempt to detect a spoken activation command potentiallycontained therein; a communication module adapted to convey a secondmicrophone signal over a communication path established with the callorigination unit in response to detection of a spoken activation commandby the first speech recognition module; the call origination unitcomprising: a second speech recognition module adapted to process thesecond microphone signal in an attempt to detect a call originationcommand potentially contained therein; control module responsive todetection of a call origination command by the second speech recognitionmodule to attempt establishment of a call in accordance with thedetected call origination command.
 53. The system defined in claim 52,the control module being adapted to (1) identify a user associated withthe spoken activation command; (2) perform a determination ofeligibility of the user to originate calls in a touch-free manner; and(3) establish the communication path in response to said determinationof eligibility being positive.
 54. The system defined in claim 53,wherein said performing a determination of eligibility of the user tooriginate calls in a touch-free manner comprises determining whether theuser is subscribed to a voice-activated call origination service.